I will die.
I. Will. Die. If. I take. One more step.
I breathed out an exhausted sigh, collapsing on the hard wooden floor before I could even reach the couch that was titulated as my bed.
He is not... The devil...
He is SATAN! WHO CAME HERE STRAIGHT FROM THE HELL CALLED THE WORLD OF ANGEL FACED IDOLS WHO ARE GONNA KILL YOU. TO MAKE SPAGHETTI OUT OF ALL OF US.
I groaned in pain, sitting up and stretching a bit. This lovely angel just made me run 3 laps around the Master Course building while making me repeat "I speak politely and formally to the people who stand above me and teach me". Because I started repeating "I speak politely and formally to the people who can make my life a living hell" instead, he changed that 3 laps to 'until the point where he thinks I learned my lesson'.
I was running for three hours. Mikaze only stopped me because the sun was setting.
So, at this moment, my body felt like it was just gonna explode into pieces. My legs hurt, my heart was beating fastly, only starting to calm down now.
... I should talk to Reiji or Otoya. They will know how to calm me down...
Getting up from the floor, I walked to the door and grabbed the handle.
*shuffle-shuffle-shuffle*
...Huh?
"Locked." I heard Mikaze's voice from behind me. I didn't notice he came in - he didn't even look up from his laptop.
"Eh!?.... W-Why?" I asked trying to keep my voice polite. Don't wanna run anymore.
"It's part of your punishment," he said simply, still not looking at me.
"... Locking me up...? What if I'm hungry or something??"
"There is more of Natsuki's cooking on your desk."
I clenched my fists.
That. IS IT!
This guy obviously doesn't know how to teach properly and only enjoys torturing me. He is a sadistic person just trying to make my life miserable in any way possible! No. I don't need a person like this in the agency.
I grabbed my phone and opened the texts.
"I quit." I typed to my brother, but before I could tap the send button my phone was snatched out of my hand.
"Watch your schedule instead of looking at a screen 24/7. Our lesson is starting," he said, continuing to type a bit on his laptop...
... I'd... rather not say anything...
I watched him with not-so-well-hid hatred as he closed his laptop, then unlocked the door and looked at me, waiting for me to stand up and walk out the door.
I sighed.
Time for yet another lesson from Satan... At 8 pm... Geez, do you ever rest...?
~■♡■~
"... And I suppose that brings our lesson to an end." Mikaze hummed out as he looked at his watch. It was pitch black outside and I basically was dying on the table, only having the motivation to move my eyeballs and look at the clock.
It's 11 pm...
"What are you waiting for? You are dismissed." Mikaze hissed at me.
.... When can I have my phone back....? I wanna quit as soon as I can...
I slowly stood up, being a little dizzy from pure tiredness. "Oyasuminasai..." I muttered, walking to the door with dry footsteps and grabbing the handle.
And it happened to me again.
*shuffle-shuffle-shuffle-shuffle*
"Could you please unlock the door!?" I sighed.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking at me bluntly.
"You know. The door, that you locked?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
"I didn't lock the door..."
"....."
I violently started messing with the door's handle, punching on it a few times too. "Then why isn't it opening...!?"
.....
I slowly bit my lips in realization, then turned around with a fake smile on my face. "Mikaze-senpai?"
"Hai?"
"Isn't there.... a janitor in this building?"
"There is. Why?"
"... And.... doesn't that janitor... has the job of locking all the doors except the dorms after a certain period of time...?"
"... Does he? It wasn't locked that night when you heard me work on my song... Although I do remember Reiji telling me about the janitor having a break day..."
"...... Mikaze-senpai...."
"Hai...?"
"WE ARE LOCKED IN HERE FOR THE WHOLE DANG NIGHT!!!!" I screamed.
Mikaze rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you are overdramatizing it," he muttered, walking towards the door as well and trying to pull, then push it open, to no avail. "... Maybe it's stuck...?"
"No. It's locked. L-o-c-k-e-d, locked!" I hissed at him, not giving a damn about my stupid job anymore.
"... Huh..." he muttered bluntly. "I suppose."
"Ugh..." I groaned.
....
"Wait a sec." I suddenly blurted out, having an idea as I quickly pulled out a hair clip from my [H/C] locks and then started picking the lock.
"That's not going to work." I heard Mikaze's blunt voice from behind me.
"Well then sit back and watch me, my dearest senpai," I smirked, not even looking at him.
"If you say so..."
...
Long seconds, then minutes passed, and the door didn't open. Before I knew it, I was picking the lock for ten minutes, to no avail.
I bit my lips as I let out a slight groan.
"Are you done?" I heard him ask, with something not entirely readable in his voice that I'd call amusement. Welp, he certainly enjoys when he is right, doesn't he?
Oh how I wanna, you know... gently pat him in the face...
...with a baseball bat...
"[L/N]. You've been doing this for fifteen minutes. That door is not going to open."
I frowned, throwing the hair clip against the wall.
You have lied to me, American movies...!!
"... So?" I sighed out, running my hand through my hair and looked at my jerk senpai, who literally was doing nothing, sitting on the couch and looking at me blankly. "What's the next step, Mr. I-Know-All?"
"What do you mean?" he asked after a split second of silence.
"You are the senpai! You are the reason we are stuck in here in the first place! So now what are we supposed to do??"
"... Well..." he hummed out, then stood up and looked out the windows. "Jumping out from here would have a 28.6% chance of surviving."
"... Wha- No thanks, I don't wanna die!!" I looked at him like he was a crazy person.
When he is an insane sadistic person.
"Then, we have to stay here for the night," he said like that was the most regular thing in the world, sitting back down near the table and opening his laptop again.
"... H-Heh!? What do you--!?
"The door is locked. The lock is clearly unpickable. We possibly can't break the door in either, and if we manage to, we have to pay for it - knowing Saotome, not with money. Jumping out of here would result in, not to say possibly fatal, injuries. We don't have any rope or clothe to climb down on either. Do you see any other possibilities?"
"...."
"That's more like it. Now go to sleep. Take the couch, I will sleep on the floor."
... Eh?
... Is he serious?
I mean, I strongly dislike him... but I still wouldn't be able to sleep, knowing the fact that he is sleeping on the cold, hard wooden floor.
"... I will sleep on the ground instead." I muttered. Mikaze stopped typing, looking surprised for a split second, before changing his face back to emotionless.
"What would make you say that? The floor is cold and hard. We don't have any blankets or an other kind of clothe either."
"... Exactly. I would feel bad knowing you had to sleep there... I actually slept a few times on the ground, so it's okay."
"... It's not." he furrowed his eyebrows. "I expect you to be fully rested by morning. I won't accept any kind of complaints about you being in pain. So, take the couch. You need it more than I do."
"..."
Point taken... Pfft.
"But... I do appreciate your concern," he added more quietly as I laid down on the couch. I looked up at him a bit taken aback. His eyes were glued to the screen, not looking at me at all.
"Shouldn't you go to sleep soon as well?" I asked him hesitantly.
"I will in a second. I will just finish this quickly."
"Ah... Wakatta."
And with that, I turned my back on him. I couldn't see much because I was facing the backrest. I let out a quiet sigh and closed my eyes. The sound of the keyboard and Mikaze's very silent mutters that I couldn't make out soon disappeared, and I heard the sound of him closing his laptop. He was being very quiet, so I guess he thought I was sleeping. I was hearing shuffles for a while, then the desk lamp was turned off and darkness enveloped in the room. A few more shuffles, and then complete silence.
...
I turned on my other side, now facing the room. When I sat up, I could make out Mikaze's silhouette on the carpet beside the couch. As my eyes got used to the darkness, I could see that his ponytail was gone, his blue hair let down. His teal eyes were open.
"So... you can't sleep either?" I asked slowly.
"... No." he answered after a few seconds of silence, sitting up as well. I let out a sigh, standing up and turning the desk lamp on once again, making Mikaze frown and squeeze his eyes closed for a second.
"I suppose we are staying up then," I muttered.
"We probably shouldn't."
"Well if we can't sleep what can we do?"
"..." Mikaze stood up as well with a barely hearable sigh, taking his laptop yet again and sitting down on the couch.
"Are you going to start working again?" I raised an eyebrow, sitting down beside him.
"No." he answered bluntly.
"... Then?"
"I'm going to kill time."
I furrowed my eyebrows and was surprised to see him scrolling through a page of online games.
I did know he was a gamer, but will he seriously start playing when it's almost midnight...?
"... oh god." I breathed out when I saw a game I knew pass by the screen.
"Hm?" Mikaze looked at me.
"... Ah, nothing... I just saw a horrible game." I chuckled awkwardly.
"Which one is it?" he scrolled back.
".... This." I pointed at Cat Mario. "It's a rage game. A terrible one. I played it once or twice..."
"A what?" he tilted his head.
"Rage game."
"What game?"
"Rage."
"Reiji?"
"Rage! Do you even know what that is?"
"No." he shook his head, blinking at me completely confused.
"..."
Well... I don't know if I should be surprised...
"... It's a game which's goal to annoy you. They are usually made as impossible as possible and people who get easily annoyed like me can get seriously angry over them..." I explained with a sweatdrop.
"Ah." he nodded, then clicked on the game.
...
"Whaaaat are you doing??" I stared at him.
"I'm going to try it."
"Are you serious!?"
"Yes." he nodded once again and soon clicked on the play button.
"... well... do what you want... but I warned you, you will get pissed..." I leaned back on the couch, crossing my arms and watching him play silently.
...
"How the heck are you doing that!?" I snapped watching him easily reach the end of the fifth level.
"Is this supposed to be hard?" he looked at me with so much innocence I wanted to facepalm.
"Yes. Yes, this is supposed to be hard." I muttered silently, looking at him with a sweatdrop.
"Oh." was all he said. "Do you want to try?"
"...." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Sure, I guess..."
He nodded bluntly, placing his laptop in my lap.
"Oookay... oh my god I didn't play this game in an eternity..." I muttered to myself, starting the next level.
...
"Jump. Jump, stupid cat, jump!!"
"You will wake everybody up if you keep yelling like that."
"Wait wait! I'm almost there, almost there-- WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" I screamed as a random mushroom fell on me and my cat died.
"... Well... That was making Ranmaru probably kill you for murdering a cat." Mikaze said bluntly from beside me looking at the dead cat.
"..." I looked at him. "What?"
He choked back something that seemed like a laugh, and I couldn't help but smile as well. "I'm pretty sure Kurosaki-san would hate this cat!"
"You are underestimating his love for cats."
I laughed a bit, and I swear I saw him smile a little.
I didn't know he was capable of laughing and making jokes... Huh...
"Let me try. You are obviously just going to kill poor cat more."
"Eeeh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you are horrible at this," he said, surprisingly playfully, taking his laptop from my lap.
"That was mean!" I whined although I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Sad but true."
"Pffft..."
He started playing again, as the air around us seemed to loosen up a bit.
"You are gonna die. Jump. Jump, you will fall!"
"I think I am the one who didn't die yet."
"You are such a snob. Look at that little monster, kill it, kill it!"
"Are you even a sane person?"
"My friend, I never was a sane person. And the monster deserves death. So kill it!" I started nudging on his arm.
"Fine, fine, let me go!" he snapped amusement now clearly hearable in his voice. "How do I kill it?"
"Jump on it, jump on it!" I pointed at the screen still nudging on his arm.
"Hai hai hai!" he chuckled quickly jumping on the monster and killing it.
"Yay!"
... I can't believe I'm having fun with this guy...
I slowly looked up at his face. His eyes were glued to the screen in focus, the slightest smile visible on his lips.
"Look, I killed another one, just so you can be happy." he suddenly muttered to me, still not taking his eyes off from the game. I nodded slightly.
... Does this mean that he is warming up to me...? Does that mean... that my plan is finally getting somewhere?
I watched him play with a smile. There was something in his eyes that I never saw before - some sort of spark, childish wonder, and amusement.
Maybe... he has another side to him.
I let out a quiet chuckle and returned my attention to the screen.
Well, I can't really know. All I know is that he does have secrets that I still have yet to figure out.
As I was enveloped in my thoughts, my sight started to get blurry, my eyelids starting to close as I yawned a bit. I heard Mikaze mutter something, but I couldn't make it out as everything went dark, my head falling to the side and landing on something hard but yet comfortable.
~■♡■~
"[L/N]."
...
"Wake up."
... huh...?
"... Gh..." I let out a slight groan, my eyes opening very slowly.
... What happened....? I'm not in our dorm room...
I noticed that my head was resting on something. I looked up, seeing Mikaze stare down at me. From like, close.
"Ohayo." he greeted with a face that looked like he tried to be blunt but failed.
"..."
I fell asleep on his shoulder...
"Ah- ohayo....!" I quickly jumped off of him. "S-Sorry, Mikaze-senpai... I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, you could've just woke me up..."
"Be honest, would you have liked if I would've woke you up when you finally managed to fall asleep?" he raised an eyebrow at me.
"... Point taken once again." I sighed, rubbing my sore neck.
"Plus, I just woke up myself," he added, standing up and starting to tie his hair back up in a ponytail.
"A-Ah..."
So, were we sleeping on each other...?
"To be exact, the janitor closing the door woke me up. The door must already be unlocked, so we are free to go."
"... Oh, okay..." I muttered stretching a bit and then starting to walk towards the door. "I must be late on my schedule, so..."
"... Wait."
I stopped and looked back at Mikaze with a questioning look.
"Yeah?"
"..." he was frowning a bit, looking away. ".... Watching the fact.... that we stayed up very late, you may... cancel your schedule for the day. You couldn't have more than four hours of sleep, so... go to sleep."
"..." I blinked at him in surprise. "Are you serious?"
He clicked his tongue a bit. "I am! Now... just go to sleep. If I catch you awake then you must go back to work, okay?" he crossed his arms.
".... H... Hai..." I nodded slowly. "Arigato, Mikaze-senpai."
I grabbed the door's handle, but a hand grabbed my wrist.
"I didn't say you are dismissed yet, wait a moment..."
I looked back at him. He pulled out my phone from his pocket, placed it in my hand, then let my wrist go.
"... You are now... free to go." he showed me the slightest smile.
"..." I smiled back a bit. "Hai..." I muttered, opening the door. "Make sure to rest as well, senpai..."
And with that, I closed the door behind myself.
~■♡■~
Tackling myself under the sheets, I looked at my phone. I had like hundreds of text messages from Kurusu and Shinomiya, asking me where we were. I sighed a bit, unlocking it, and was surprised to see the conversation with Eiji opened.
"I quit." the unsent message was still there.
"..." I bit my lips, and slowly deleted the message.
Maybe... I can bear it here for just a bit more. After all, I shouldn't quit now if I'm progressing somewhat... Right...?
~■♡■~
I'm sorry for the long wait > <. I'm glad to say that we passed our first cut-off point in the story. Are you excited? :D
Hope you enjoyyyed